Author Archives: Joel

Are the cats running out of polite ways to make a point, and are now acting more in sorrow than anger? Are they trying to share? Or was that just where the head happened to be when they lost interest? … Continue reading →

I started this blog to talk about my adventures as a desert hermit, and so far all I’ve done is bitch about the weather and the infrastructure. That wasn’t what I wanted to say at all. This morning I claimed … Continue reading →

A couple of old freinds from The Mental Militia, from which I’m probably drawing all my readers at present, queued up to mildly take me to task for some things I said about freedom-oriented literature. And they’re right in what … Continue reading →

I occasionally read someone talking about moving “off the grid,” and rhapsodizing about how nice it’ll be not to worry about outages, brownouts, and generally not being at someone else’s mercy for power. I always smile…benevolently. Yeah, that’s how I … Continue reading →

I just looked at the weather forecast, and it looks like I’m going to have to get pro-active about fuel by Thursday or risk short supplies. The sky is iron-gray with heavy overcast and apparently intends to stay that way, … Continue reading →

Freedom literature sucks, more often than not. I’m actually stating this rather mildly; the sentence would probably be more accurate if you dropped the last four words. The “freedom movement” has a lot of sub-sets. There’s the Libertarians (big- and … Continue reading →

The second package was a care package from my daughter. She sent me a couple of funny Darth Vader T-shirts, some crochet stuff (I’m currently wearing the grey beanie hat – very cunning) and … Oy! Four Pinky and the … Continue reading →

So my landlady showed up yesterday afternoon, bearing coffee and mail! I never get mail. I mean, I get so little mail I don’t even have a mailbox. I rarely get E-mail. So imagine my surprise when she brings me … Continue reading →

I don’t mean for this to be a link blog, but this is too damned good not to pass on. All new for 2012, the Pelosi GTxi SS/Rt Sport Edition is the mandatory American car so advanced it took $100 … Continue reading →

I’m just whining this morning. Forgive. “Winter is cold. Winter is wet. Winter is not the time to be preparing for winter.” I wrote that a long time ago, and it remains true. The section of the world I inhabit, … Continue reading →

I’ve mentioned that my employer/landlady has three dogs, and that I’m their nanny. There’s Magnus, the gigantic Lab previously noted. There’s Fritz, a big, goofy Shepherd. And then there’s Ghost, a smaller (maybe 45 pounds) dog of uncertain breed; sort … Continue reading →

Christmas is not a subject that comes up very often around me. It’s so rare, in fact, that I was really blindsided by it this morning. I’ve nothing against people celebrating Christmas; I remember getting a hell of a kick … Continue reading →

In the event of something happening to meThere is something I would like you all to seeIt’s just a photograph of someone that I knew:Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones?Do you know what it’s like on the outside?Don’t go … Continue reading →

Yesterday afternoon I saw Magnus, the world’s biggest Labrador, laying on his haunches halfway down the slope of the ridge where we live and chowing down on something. I didn’t go to look at what he was eating, because dogs … Continue reading →

I hear my single imaginary reader say, “This Joel frood claims to live so f*cking far back in the desert that the coyotes need a map and a fill-up to get there. But he’s on the Internet, using a computer … Continue reading →

Okay, so I’m an old phart. I’m very new to this whole narcissistic “blogging” thing, and don’t know what the hell I’m doing. For my single imaginary reader, I add this as an explanation of why my layout sucks so … Continue reading →

“Pick up your visual scanning!” Which, when translated, apparently means “look out your windows.” Every single time I hear that line it knocks my attention right out of the movie’s climax as I wonder, “Would I want to be under … Continue reading →

Two years and a bit. That’s how long I’ve been out here. I’ve no complaints, even for the bad stuff; I made my bed in full knowledge that I’d have to lie in it. It has worked out better than … Continue reading →

This is an essay I wrote and posted on The Claire Files (Now The Mental Militia) on November 16, 2007. It commemorated my first year in the desert gulch, and is appropriately entitled “One Year Later.” It’s been almost exactly … Continue reading →

Two years ago I left the city, mayhap forever. I live in the desert, in a location I hope never to entirely identify. Although I’m only the caretaker for another person’s property, I live here alone. Sometimes I go weeks … Continue reading →